"Wow," exclaims the visitor from New Zealand, a place, after all, with a human history shorter than most. For from a wooden walkway were gazing down at an archaeological site of giddying age. Built about 9000 BC, its more than twice as old as Stonehenge or the Pyramids, predating the discovery of metals, pottery or even the wheel. This is Göbekli Tepe in south-eastern Turkey, generally reckoned the most exciting and historically significant archaeological dig currently under way anywhere in the world, and there are neither queues nor tickets to get in.

Wow for a number of reasons, then, though its neither the access nor the staggering implications of the sites age that has particularly impressed the man from distant Auckland. Neolithic Göbekli Tepe is also remarkably beautiful. From the partially excavated pit rise circular arrangements of huge T-shaped obelisks exquisitely carved with foxes, birds, boars and snakes or highly stylised human attributes including belts, loincloths and limbs. Were profoundly moved by this glimpse into a radically recast prehistory, and mystified too. Even the archaeologists hard at work on this September morning can only speculate about its function, not least because the stones appear to have been deliberately buried.

This series of sanctuaries is the oldest known monumental architecture, explains the excavation leader and approachable on-site presence Professor Klaus Schmidt. Maybe burial was already part of their concept from the very beginning.(continued)

Puzzle piled upon puzzle as the excavation continued. For reasons yet unknown, the rings at Göbekli Tepe seem to have regularly lost their power, or at least their charm. Every few decades people buried the pillars and put up new stonesa second, smaller ring, inside the first. Sometimes, later, they installed a third. Then the whole assemblage would be filled in with debris, and an entirely new circle created nearby. The site may have been built, filled in, and built again for centuries.

People have worked with stone for 100s of 1000s of years, including some possible small images of animals and such; one apparent stylized statue of a human dates back 400K years. Stone was used to work stone at this site. But it appears you’re really just objecting to the writing in the article.

47
posted on 04/26/2013 8:39:37 PM PDT
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

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